The Original
by Hardman
Summary: A chance encounter introduces startling revelations.


Everything to do with Eva doesn't belong to me it belongs to Gainax.  
Here is a little story that popped in my head one day. It is set in a future where the third impact was avoided but at a cost, and a chance encounter reveals hidden secrets and painful memories.  
  
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The Original  
  
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Asuka Langley Sohryu stood at the bar, nursing a shot of vodka. She was considering whether or not she would drink it. 'Hell, I'm here for a good time' she thought before knocking it back. She looked stunning in a sleevless red dress that hugged her figure.  
  
"Taking after Misato huh?" said a man standing behind her. 'Misato' She turned her head to look at him, he was smartly dressed although a bit dishevelled, he reminded her of Kaji.  
  
"You are late." Was her reply.  
  
"Busy day at the office as usual, where are the others?" He said as moved to stand beside her at the bar.  
  
"Trying to get a table."  
  
"Hmm, always the class rep." He looked around the crowded bar trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of his friends. It was impossible, there was just too many people  
  
"Pity she has to drag that idiot friend of yours around with her."  
  
"You never change. Hey!" He said as someone banged into him from the side.  
  
"Sorry." Was the reply from the young woman, who had bumped into him. Asuka grinned.  
  
"What are you laughing at?" He asked.  
  
"Your stupid face!" She said.  
  
"Give it a rest Asuka." He replied, Asuka was still grinning.  
  
"You enjoy it, so does the ape." This caused the young man to start grinning aswell.  
  
"True, getting into an argument with the great Asuka Langley Sohryu helps me relax at night."  
  
"You know I hate that." Her voice had changed from joking to deadly serious.  
  
"Sorry, I forgot." He said as he turned his head to look at the floor. Her tone quickly changed again.  
  
"Don't worry about it, we're here to have fun, so lets have fun." She says as she catches the eye of the barman, she orders two drinks that are promptly brought before them.  
  
"Here's to Kensuke Aida, on turning 24." She said. They both knocked back their respective glasses.  
  
"Thank you Miss Sohryu, and if I'm not mistaken our table is ready." Asuka turned to see Touji Suzahara walking towards them.  
  
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"Rubbish, there is no way that the JSSDFs new GBAV mk 3, could match up to one of the UNs ASV 5s!" Shouted Asuka over the loud rock music that was being played.  
  
"I never said that, I said that GBAVs had better fire power than ASVs, and if an ASV was hit by one of the rounds from a GBAV it wouldn't survive!" Replied Kensuke.  
  
"Do you have to talk about military weaponry again?" Asked an annoyed Hikari.  
  
"It's my birthday and I'll talk about military weaponry if I want to." He replied. 'Military weponary' thought Asuka 'at least he doesn't mention the Evas anymore. Eva, Mother, Misato, Shinji...'  
  
"Asuka, are you all right?" Asked Hikari.  
  
"Hmm...I'm fine, just reminiscing."  
  
"Hey Kensuke, did you call that girl?" Asked Touji. 'Call?' thought Asuka as she began to rummage through her bag.  
  
"Yeah I did, but I don't think anything will come of it though." He said.  
  
"Hey, has anyone seen my phone?" Asked Asuka.  
  
"No, maybe you left it at the bar?" said Kensuke.  
  
"I think I did, be right back." She got up and headed over to the bar. She quickly located the spot where she was sitting. A young man with his back to her currently occupied it. She tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned to look at her, she gasped. 'It can't be, it's impossible' she thought as she stared at him.  
  
"Can I help you?" The man asked, she blinked, then darkness.  
  
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When she came too, she realised that she was no longer in the bar, but in a small room, yet she could still hear the loud music.  
  
"Are you okay Miss Sohryu?" Said someone beside her, she turned to look at the person sitting by her bed and once again she almost passed out from the shock.  
  
"Who are you?  
  
"I'm Shinji Ikari, I'm the guy that you fell on."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You must have fainted or something, the barman said that we could use this backroom while you recovered.  
  
"Shinji?" She said. "It can't be! You're dead!"  
  
"I assure you that I am alive." He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Asuka sat up, a mixture of confusion, anger and shock were on her face.  
  
"But I saw the destruction of Unit 01."  
  
"Unit 01?" A puzzled look apeared on his face.  
  
"Your Eva, don't you remember."  
  
"I've never had an Eva, do you know me or something?"  
  
"You said my name, then you must remember something."  
  
"Your name? But everyone knows your name, you're Asuka Langley Sohryu the famous Eva pilot."  
  
"No, we worked together, we fought the Angels together."  
  
"Look I never fought an Angel. I never even went near Tokyo-3. My father never allowed it, he didn't want me to get hurt." He was getting angry, and slightly annoyed.  
  
"Your father?"  
  
"Gendo Ikari, your former boss. Wait a minute, my Uncle says that I look a lot like him. He must have told you about me, and when you fell, you maybe you banged your head and some of your memories got muddled." He said.  
  
"None of my memories are muddled! I know you, we lived together for months." At that moment, Hikari, Touji and Kensuke burst in through the door. At the sight of the young man, their jaws dropped and their eyes popped out of their heads.  
  
"Shinji?" Said Touji.  
  
"Okay if this is some kind of sick joke I don't want any part of it." He stood up and walked out of the door.  
  
"My God!" Said Hikari.  
  
"Was that really him?" Asked Kensuke.  
  
"He said he was Shinji Ikari," said Asuka, "Yet it can't be him."  
  
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As she drove to the maximum-security prison, that didn't officially exist, and didn't officially hold Gendo Ikari, she reflected on the past. The final battle, she couldn't remember much about it, but it was all captured on tape: Her battle with the JSSDF and then the Eva series; The Eva series ripping Unit 02 to pieces; Unit 01 emerging from Headquarters with never before seen wings spread; Unit 01 rising through the air; the arrival of the Lance of Longinus; the arrival of a giant Rei; Unit 01 grabbing the floating Lance and impaling itself on it; A large explosion which destroyed the Eva series and Rei. There was nothing left of Unit 01, that she was sure of.  
  
She arrived at the prison, which had been built under a mountain. Showing the guard her ID, she was directed to the main office. She asked to speak to Ikari in a room without listening devices, her request was granted and she was shown to the room. It was a small grey room with a table and two chairs on opposite sides, Asuka noticed the steel rings fixed to the floor. After waiting only a short time, Gendo Ikari was brought in. He was wearing a standard prison uniform. He was wearing shackles and a straight jacket, 'Probably because he refused to have his hand regenerated' thought Asuka. The guard fixed the shackles to the steel ring.  
  
"Hello Miss Sohryu, it's been a while." He said. A cold shiver ran down Asukas back.  
  
"Shut up Ikari, I want to know the truth about Shinji." She said forcing herself to be the person that she had grown out of.  
  
"The truth is that he is dead, you know that as well as I do." He seemed almost upset.  
  
"I know that that is crap, I met someone who claims to be Shinji Ikari, he looks like him too."  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about."  
  
"Bullshit, what did you do to Shinji?"  
  
"You think that I will discuss these things while prying ears are listening."  
  
"There are no recording devices."  
  
"I don't believe you."  
  
"Fine." She pulled out a small device for her bag.  
  
"You do know what this is, don't you."  
  
"Yes, that will suffice." Asuka turned on the device that she had gotten from Kensuke. It was a piece of electronic equipment that when turned on, caused interference with any recording device within 10 metres.  
  
"Now talk."  
  
"Are you sure that you want the truth."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Very well, the Shinji Ikari you knew was not my son." He stated with a smile.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Shinji Ikari you knew was a clone that professor Fuyutsuki created."  
  
"Why?" She asked 'What the hell is going on?'  
  
"Contrary to what people believed, I cared a lot about my son, I still do, but the pilot of Unit 01 needed to be of a certain mind. Shinji had the highest chance of synchronising with Unit 01, but I couldn't put him through all that pain so I an exact duplicate made, and made sure that its life was sufficient enough to put it in the frame of mind that was required."  
  
"You bastard, what you did was inhuman."  
  
"What I did was to protect my son."  
  
"He may have just been a clone of the real Shinji Ikari, but he was alive, he had a soul."  
  
"It didn't matter, not to me." He said.  
  
"But he had the memories of the real Shinji didn't he?"  
  
"Up until Shinjis mother died, yes."  
  
"Then he was as real as the other one."  
  
"No it was just a doll." Upon hearing that word Asuka punched Ikari. The guard looked in, but did nothing. Asuka marched out of the room and straight to her car. 'That bastard, he knows that I hate that word.'  
  
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"What is taking so long?" She asked.  
  
"You think it is easy hacking into government records?" Was Kensukes reply. They were in his flat, electrical equipment was scattered all over the place. They were standing at his computer, the monitor currently displayed several windows, some were filled with lines of code, others displayed directories.  
  
"Alright! I am the greatest hacker of all time!" He shouted.  
  
"Couldn't shout any louder could you, I'm sure that there is an office clerk in the FBI who didn't hear you." She said.  
  
"I get the message, here we go, apparently there are currently 17 Shinji Ikaris all over Japan, two live in Tokyo-2, since one is 56 years old, we can safely assume that the other is the one we're looking for." He said, proud at his acheivement.  
  
"Right where can I find him?" She asked.  
  
"Apparently he's a data analyst, currently working for the government, he lives here in Tokyo-2 at this address." He said as he handed her a freshly printed document which contained several details of this Shinji Ikaris background.  
  
"Thanks Kensuke." She said.  
  
"No problem, anytime, anything for a friend."  
  
"Okay, okay here you go." She said as she handed him a disk.  
  
"This better have the right specs on it." He said staring at the disk, with a smile on his face.  
  
"It does, but remember this plane is just out of the design phase, there will probably be many changes made during the construction phase." She replied.  
  
"Okay." He said, not removing his eyes from the disk.  
  
"And I have removed all references to the type of weaponary that it will carry, and what system it will use."  
  
"Hey! Come on Asuka." He pleaded.  
  
"You know the rules, nothing that could endanger national security."  
  
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In the morning Asuka set off to confront the 'real' Shinji Ikari, according to the information Kensuke had attained he lived near to the office that he was working at. She climbed the stairs to his flat and knocked on his door, which was shortly answered by Shinji. When he saw Asuka he became immediately annoyed once again.  
  
"What can I do for you Miss Sohryu?"  
  
"You can listen, but what I have to say won't be easy."  
  
An hour later, after Asuka explained her experiences with the 'second' Shinji, and showed Shinji some photographs of them together, and told him about the discussion she had with his father, he conceeded to the fact that he had been cloned. Talking about the Shinji brought up feelings that she hadn't felt in a while: regret; sorrow; love...  
  
"I can't believe that my father would do something like that, sure after mom died he was a bit colder to other people, but not to me. I just can't believe that he would do that." He said.  
  
"Believe it, he was a monster, he tried to kill humanity and create a perverted existence where he was God. And he did it using someone who believed he was you." Said Asuka.  
  
"This is a bit much to take in." He said, restng his head in hs hands.  
  
"You're right, I'd better go now." They stood up and walked to the door, he opened it.  
  
"Here's my number, call me if you want to talk." She handed him a piece of paper, and walked out the door."  
  
"Thanks. Goodbye."  
  
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"I'm glad that you wanted to talk to me." Said Asuka. It was a few days later, Shinji had called her the previous night and asked her to come to the bar where they had first met.  
  
"I'm glad that there is someone that I can talk to about this." He replied.  
  
"It's not a problem, now what do you want to talk about."  
  
"I want to know what he was like."  
  
"What the Shinji I knew was like, well I suppose I didn't really appreciate him that much, until afterwards. He cooked and cleaned and did the laundry for himself, me and Major Misato Katsuagi, our guardian, he was a great cook, anything that Misato made was inedible and whatever I made was too rich for the Japanese stomach, but he seemed to be able to make something that everyone liked..." She talked about him for over an hour, everything that she could remember, while the Shinji just listened, engrossed in the desciption.  
  
"...and that's about it." She concluded.  
  
"It sounds that you really cared for him." Said Shinji.  
  
"I did, but I had problems back then, and I couldn't admit it until it was too late, I regret alot of what happened." A tear ran down her cheek.  
  
"Are you alright?" He asked. She wiped away the tear.  
  
"Yeah, I fine, it's just bad memories and good ones, they get to me." She said. Shinji looked at his watch.  
  
"Well it's getting late, I'll walk you back to your apartment." He said  
  
"You don't have to, I'll be fine."  
  
"Nonsense, I couldn't live myself if I didn't make sure that you got home." He smiled at her. They both got up and headed out the door, they continued talking as they headed towards Asukas apartment, and then they reached a desolute part of the city.   
  
Shinji lunged at Asuka wrapping his hands around her throat.  
  
"Finally all alone with no one to interfere."  
  
"Why?" She managed to whisper.  
  
"You prevented my father from completing his project, prevent us from being with my mother again, it's all your fault!" He started to squeeze harder. "Because of you my other self died, because of you our salvation was destroyed, all because of you, and now I will kill you."  
  
"I don't think so." A voice said from behind him, before he was punched in the side. He fell to the ground releasing his hold on Asuka. He looked up to see both Touji Suzahara and Kensuke Aida.  
  
"Asuka are you okay?" Asked Touji, she nodded in reply but remained on the ground.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He asked.  
  
"It seems that you have an interesting background Shinji." replied Kensuke, "Before 2015 you didn't exist."  
  
"What?!" Shinji shouted, his face betrayed his shock.  
  
"I believe that you are a clone, another clone of the real Shinji Ikari." Said Kensuke.  
  
"No! It's not true, it can't be true!" Shouted Shinji.  
  
"It's true, we found the other Shinji," said Asuka, while being helped to her feet by Touji, "He has a full background."  
  
"So why did you go through all this trouble then?" Shinji asked.  
  
"It was after I told you about the Shinji we knew, that we discovered that you were a clone. We wondered why Ikari would go to the trouble of making another clone, you didn't make an appearance until a month and a half after the 14th Angel. Considering what happened back then, I figured that you were a backup plan, just in case he failed." Said Asuka.  
  
"It all makes sense now, but it wouldn't have mattered, as long as Third Impact occurs nothing in this existence truly matters. So what are you going to do with me?" Shinji asked, the life appearing to left his voice.  
  
"Us? We're going to do nothing, but the JSSDF on the other are probably going to throw into the cell beside Gendo Ikari." Said Asuka.  
  
"I see." He said, it turned out that those were the last words that that Shinji ever said to them.  
  
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One week later, at a farm 20 miles outside of Tokyo-2, a young man is busy mending a fence. A car stops on the road beside the fence and Asuka gets out. The young man having heard the car, turns around and sees the red head heading towards him. He stands up and walks to her.  
  
"Hello Shinji." She said.  
  
"Can I help you?" Was his reply.  
  
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All C&C is appreciated. This story is based upon an idea by Rainier Encarnacion. 


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